The invention relates to individual breathing equipment for use by personnel who are required to act under hostile surroundings of a nature that requires protection not only for the respiratory passages, but also for the body or at least the entire head. By way of example, mention may be made of equipment for use by firemen who need protection against smoke, and equipment for providing NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) protection.
Individual equipment is already known comprising a head covering (often reduced to a face-cover with) delimiting the space that is separated from the surroundings and a mask for isolating the respiratory passages, and provided with a breath-in valve and a breath-out valve. The breathable gas may be atmospheric air, sucked in through a filter, when protection is necessary, or it may come from a supply associated with the equipment.
Among the drawbacks suffered by existing equipment in which the breathable gas penetrates directly into the mask, special attention can be given to the fact that the portion of the head enclosed in the covering is not ventilated, which gives rise to discomfort that considerably limits the tolerable wearing time, particularly if the covering contains both the head and the neck.